Claim
A distressing video of mass execution by Syrian armed forces in 2013 has resurfaced on social media falsely linking it to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. BOOM received the video on its helpline number with the caption, "Israeli military are conducting a war crime on the ground operation in Gaza they're doing exactly what Hitler did to them. Please share it before they take it out of social media as they control the social media. Let It go very viral." (sic.) The video is also circulating on Facebook with the same caption.
Fact
BOOM debunked the graphic video earlier this year when it went viral falsely linking it to the devastating earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria on February 6, 2023. We did a keyword search describing the viral video and found a New Lines Magazine article published on April 27, 2022. The article stated that the video shows the Syrian military committing a mass execution in Damascus, Syria on April 16, 2013. The article carried the screenshots from the viral video which mentioned that the two executioners seen in the viral video are Amjad Youssef and Najib al-Halabi. New Lines reported, "In three separate videos that each last about seven minutes, these two men show themselves in broad daylight while executing 41 civilians. Then they dump the bodies in a pre-dug pit prepared with car tires for incineration." The Guardian also featured the same video in their article published on April 27, 2022.